I'm trying to improve my voice (read: start from scratch) and I just don't know where to start. The main thing I notice is it lacks power. I don't know how to say it other than that...it just sounds weak, airy, no ummm...presence...bass....not sure. I don't know if I can even sound as good as I'd like to. I wrote a quick little piece of a song just for fun, in no way finalized, it's sloppy and I'm sorry if everything is off beat and the mix sucks..

Its rock ballad-like and so I also apologize for cheesy lyrics. Which you may or may not hear clearly since I kinda made em up as I went along and mumbled some of them...

I was also trying to not be that loud because people were sleeping, and I didnt want them to hear me sing :P

So basically I'm just really looking for help with my voice, and this is the best place I know to ask.

Last thing is I'm using an old USB rockband mic, but I dont think that should make too much difference.

Please help, I'll just be over here reading the articles and other threads for tips in the meantime

Hey thanks Matt, I went to another forum to see if I could get more responses and they pretty much said the same thing, so I did these covers too now. These are much better examples of terrible singing :P

Believe it or not I'm pretty much yelling at the USB Rock Band Mic for these....so I'm not sure if the mic is making me sound worse.

- Breaking into Falsetto on higher notes of Surrounded
- Need more support
- Sounds like whispering on LtF
- As a beginner I shouldn't be choosing these songs to sing. They're really challenging I guess.

And I'm afraid I can't change my voice to be more intense even if I practiced.

One of the guys sent me backing tracks for 'easier' DT songs, so we'll see how that goes.

I'd still like to hear what you guys have to say though. Just ignore the original song.

I think the Foo Fighters song needs to have more chest voice, it may actually be loud in person but it doesn't record that way regardless of mic. I can't help much because I'm still learning it's just something I've come to find.

very pitchy, unsupported sound. you are not "yelling" at the mic, I can clearly hear that in your tonality.

Learn to breathe from your diaphragm and support your sound. Raise your soft palette. Don't give up at the end of phrases, push through them. Speaking of ends of phrases, you have a bad habit of closing off on the consonant after a vowel. a good example being your dream theater cover: errrrrrly, easierrrrr, etc. etc. hold the vowel, and just throw the consonant in at the end. make it eaaaaaaaaaarly, easiaaaaaah, etc.

Sounds to me like you need to imagine inhale while your singing. you need to free your voice. If you put things into a correct thought process your breathing should come natural. I still agree with tyson. there is also inter coastal muscles around the lungs that will take time to train.

keeping your mouth relaxed and how you move those little muscles to resonate is very important. allowing air into the sinus cavity.

your pushing and puffing and blowing into the Mic you need some alone time with your voice..your own material. while your doing this, speak. use your speaking voice..resonate like your speaking voice. you cant practice other artist songs because when you hear that song you hear there voice..not your own..you dont even know your own voice yet.

The simplest way for me to describe singing is I think speaking with the thought of inhaling. it helps me stay relaxed

__________________Its all fun and games till someone has to take a drug test

And you're really trying, but unfortunately that's not a good thing. You need to relax more, and just let it happen. I'd strongly recommend lessons. You want to build a foundation of solid fundamentals - and that's going to happen by grab-bagging random advice off the internet.